The Buddha:
“Again & again they sow the seed.
Again & again the deva-kings rain.
Again & again farmers plow the fields.
Again & again grain comes to the kingdom.
Again & again beggars wander.
Again & again lords of giving give.
Again & again having given, the lords of giving
again & again go to a heavenly place.1
Again & again dairy farmers draw milk.
Again & again the calf goes to its mother.
Again & again one wearies & trembles.
Again & again the dullard goes to the womb.
Again & again you take birth & die.
Again & again they carry you to the charnel ground.
But on gaining the path
to no again-becoming,
you, deep in discernment,
don’t take birth
again & again.”
Notes
1. These first two verses are also found in Thag 10:1.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN7_12.html